After paying $2.4 million to Stephon Clark family, Sacramento hit with new Clark suit
The legacy of the fatal March 2018 police shooting of Stephon Clark continues to haunt Sacramento, with a new lawsuit filed in federal court alleging a city bicycle officer broke a protester’s leg last year by ramming her with his bike during a march in the Fabulous 40s neighborhood.
Brandy Wood filed suit late Wednesday alleging her leg was broken without provocation during a March 4, 2019, demonstration in East Sacramento and that she was then taken to jail and left for hours without medical care.
The demonstration, which resulted in the arrest of 84 protesters and some reporters who were there to cover it in the upscale East Sacramento neighborhood, were protesting the decision two days earlier by District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert not to charge officers in the Clark shooting.
Clark, a 22-year-old black man, was shot to death March 18, 2018, in the backyard of his grandparents’ Meadowview home after running from officers. Police later said the officers thought he was armed; the investigation determined he was carrying only a cellphone.
The shooting spawned protests that last for a year, shut down Interstate 5, closed off access to two Sacramento Kings games at Golden 1 Center, forced the closure of Arden Fair Mall and snarled traffic throughout the region as angry citizens took to the streets.
The city ultimately agreed last fall to pay $2.4 million to Clark’s children in a partial settlement of a federal civil rights lawsuit the family filed. Another lawsuit filed by Sacramento civil rights attorney Mark Merin last May is pending and accuses police of violating the civil rights of protesters at the March 2019 march in the Fab 40s neighborhood.
That march attracted hundreds of people and began at the Trader Joe’s on Folsom Boulevard before spilling out into the neighborhood. Police finally ordered marchers to disperse.
But as a large group of marchers and some members of the media tried to walk out of the scene back to their cars they were funneled by officers into a closed off area on the 51st Street overpass over Highway 50, where they were detained and arrested.
The latest lawsuit, filed by Oakland civil rights attorney John Burris’ office, says Wood was injured as she was “present with her family and complying with officer’s unlawful orders (to) line up to be arrested.”
“As she was complying, a yet-to-be-identified bicycle officer was walking past her with his bike and inexplicably rammed his bike into Plaintiff’s leg and broke her leg,” the suit says. “The yet-to-be-identified Sacramento police officer failed to stop and document his use of force, failed to summon medical care and callously moved away after she was injured.
“Nevertheless, despite her obvious injuries, officers falsely arrested and imprisoned her for hours without medical care.”
After the incident, Wood told reporters that she sat untreated for three hours on the overpass before paramedics arrived, then was taken to Cal Expo and spent more hours there in custody.
“People asked, ‘What happened to you. Who hurt you?’ I was scared because it was police. I get mad that this happened. I was doing what was right. That night was so beautiful - the vibe - then it turned into a nightmare,” Wood said.
A police spokesman declined to comment Thursday on pending litigation.
The suit alleges excessive force, unlawful arrest, false imprisonment, battery and negligence.
This story was originally published March 5, 2020 at 11:05 AM.